Manmohan Krishna

Vijay is the illicit son of a business tycoon named Raj Kumar and his first love, Shanti. Years after being abandoned by his father, he resurfaces to exact revenge on Raj Kumar and his family for the injustice his mother suffered at their hands.

Widowed Advocate Triloki Prasad (Om Prakash) lives a wealthy lifestyle in a small town in India with two sons, Advocate Ashok (Vijay Sharma) married to Geeta (Lily Chakravarty), and Alok (Amitabh Bachchan) who has yet to settle down in their law firm. Alok is fond of music and enrolls in classes run by Pandit Jamuna Prasad (A. K. Hangal). On his return, his father asks him to accompany Ashok to their law firm and start learning to practice, which he agrees to do. Triloki wants Alok to learn basic law from Ashok and eventually study for a law degree. Triloki does not encourage Alok's interests in singing and other fine arts. Ashok understands and tells Alok that while he will need to come to the office, but after that he is free to do what he wants. Triloki himself doesn't attend office as he is running for local elections and is focused on that. Alok met Tonga wallah Ganeshi (Asrani) at the station upon his return. Ganesh and Alok used to be childhood friends. Ganeshi's father used to drive a Tonga for Triloki, but was fired when Triloki bought a motor car. Alok is fond of music and learns from Ganeshi that a courtesan Sarju Bai Banaraswali (Chhaya Devi) sings very well. Ganeshi is a tenant with her and hence knows about her. Radhiya (Rekha) is Ganeshi's sister and is learning music from Sarju Bai. Alok goes to the slums to meet Sarju Bai and she chases him out thinking he is a goon lusting after Radhiya. Ganeshi finds Alok and brings him to his hut, where they sing a song together, which Sarju Bai hears. Sarju Bai is impressed to know that Alok learned music from Pandit Jamuna and takes him under her wings. Maharaj Dinanath (Manmohan Krishna) is a singer in his own right. He has feelings for Sarju, but never expresses them and continues to care for her selflessly. Sarju tells the story of Raja Bahadur (Sanjeev Kumar) who lost his wife.. Raja was a huge fan of music and Sarju was young. She left her Kotha and went to Raja that night, when his wife died. Together they sang a duet and that's how Sarju shared Raja's grief with him. One day, Triloki finds out that Alok has not been going the firm but is instead spending time in the local slums with a former courtesan named Sarju Bai Banaraswali (Chhaya Devi). He cautions Alok about this, but Alok continues to visit Sarju Bai. He and Radhiya get close to each other. When Mr. Gupta (Yunus Parvez) approaches Triloki about taking possession and demolishing the slum area (Gupta had leased his land to the slum area many years ago. The land was next to his mill which is now growing and he needs the land back to expand his own business), Triloki readily agrees and with his expertise manages to sway the Court's decision in Gupta's favor. Meanwhile Triloki sends Alok to meet Gupta and Mrs. Gupta (Lalita Kumari) daughter Sulakshana (Farida Jalal) for a possible marriage. Sulakshana tells Alok that she loves someone else Kishan (Benjamin Gilani) and hence cant marry Alok. As a result of Triloki's legal brain, Sarju Bai and others are rendered homeless. With the fee he receives from Gupta, he asks Alok to purchase a used car for himself. But Alok purchases a horse-carriage and decides to drive it himself to make a living. His enraged father asks him to leave the house. Alok stays with Ganeshi, Radhiya and Sarju Bai and is now considered a member of the family. When Triloki finds out that Alok is doing well in his work, he decides to hire motor coaches to transport people at a much cheaper price, thus cutting off Alok's earnings and perhaps forcing him to reconsider his decision, apologize, and return home to his father. It is on.. Neither Triloki nor Alok are willing to step down from their positions. Soon, Ganeshi and Alok see their incomes dwindle to nothing. In desperation, Ganeshi sabotages the buses by breaking their fuel pipes. The buses catch fire, but Ganeshi is caught and imprisoned for 6 yrs. Sarju Bai begs Alok to marry Radhiya, which he does. Soon Radhiya is pregnant and gives birth to a son. Geeta wants to bring Alok and his son back home, but Triloki is adamant. When Geeta insists, Triloki asks her to leave the house. Ashok goes with Geeta. Yrs pass and Alok & Radha's son (Master Ravi) is now a toddler. Alok has TB and is sick. Radhiya meets Ganeshi in prison, who advises Radhiya to take Munna with her and leave Alok. she and Munna can settle in Banaras with Sarju and Maharaj. This way Alok might be invited back into the house by Triloki, and this could end up saving his life. Radhiya starts nagging and fighting with Alok, but he wont budge at all and reconcile with Triloki. Radhiya takes Ganeshi's advise and leaves for Banaras. One day, Triloki's car is broken and he takes a carriage home, not realizing the Alok is driving it. Back home, father and son exchange pleasantries, before Alok goes on his way. Alok learns that Geeta and Ashok no longer stay with Triloki. Triloki can see that Alok is badly ill. 8 months pass and Alok has not written back to Radhiya. Meanwhile Sulakshana is married to Kishan and visits Alok in the hospital where he is admitted. That day Maharaj also arrives and takes Alok with him to Banaras since Sarju Bai wants to see Alok before she passes away. Sarju and Radhiya are devastated to see Alok in such pitiable state. Eventually Sarju Bai passes away after Raja Bahadur comes to meet her (Maharaj visits Raja Bahadur and begs him to come and meet Sarju) one last time on her death bed. At her eulogy, Alok sings the song that once Sarju sang for Raja Bahadur. Raja is moved and realizes Alok's talent. now Triloki finds himself all alone and wants to go to fetch Geeta and Ashok back. Raja Bahadur meets Triloki at his mansion and tells him that Triloki has made a grave mistake by not understanding Alok's talent. Raja Bahadur tells Triloki that Alok is dying and needs his father. Triloki is moved and visits Alok in Banaras. It is implied that Alok dies shortly thereafter and Triloki returns home with Radhiya and his grandson, who is as good a singer as Alok.

Lala Kedarnath Prasanta (Balraj Sahni) has three sons whose birthdays are on the same day. Lala Kedarnath has a Kashmir carpets & dry fruits business and fate has been kind to him that he got rich and earned a lot of respect and fame in society. On the occasion of their birthday celebration, they are visited by a well-known astrologer Pandit Uday Shankar (Badri Prasad), who advises Lala Kedarnath not to be proud for his past achievements and to not be too optimistic about the future as fate (Kismat) plays a key role in life. Lala Kedarnath ignores the prediction and is busy making plans for an even wealthier future. He says that his eldest son will become a barrister, the middle one Ravi will join him at the shop, and the youngest would be an engineer. Later that night as he is proclaiming his grand plans for the future to his wife (Achala Sachdev), there is a sudden earthquake and the whole town crumbles. When Lala Kedarnath regains consciousness, his house has been destroyed and his family is gone. The oldest son, Raju (Raaj Kumar), ends up in an orphanage, while middle son, Ravi, (Sunil Dutt) is found on the road by a rich couple who take him to their home to raise him as their own son. The youngest son, Vijay (Shashi Kapoor) who is still an infant, is with his mother Laxmi (Achla Sachdev). A family friend tells Laxmi that he saw an iron beam fall on Lala, and he might not be alive anymore. Unable to find the rest of the family, Laxmi and Vijay live in poverty. Lala Kedarnath traces Raju to the orphanage but finds that he has run away because the orphanage manager (Jeevan) beat him up. The manager was very corrupt who took the government grants and spent it on his own luxury and comfort rather than provide the basic amenities to the kids. When Raju protested, he was severely disciplined. Frustrated, Kedarnath kills the manager and is jailed. As the police drive away with Kedarnath. Raju grows up as Raja, a sophisticated thief, who works for Chinnoy Seth (Rehman). Raja falls in love with Meena (Sadhana) and decides to give up the life of crime. Once Raja had stolen a necklace that belonged to Meena and then decided to return it to her as a present on her birthday. That day Raja fell I love with Meena. Raja claims that the thief dropped the necklace inside his house while escaping. Chinnoy is livid that Raju returned the necklace to Meena and says that he got Raju from the streets and made him what he is today. Raju refuses to let Chinnoy own his personal life. Ravi is a lawyer now and his father and Meena's father are good friends. Ravi's father had asked Meena's father to arrange for Ravi's internship. Ravi is loved by his foster parents who never told him that he is adopted. He has a sister named Renu. Meanwhile, Vijay has completed his BA but cannot find a job. Renu has been in love with Vijay since their college days together (Vijay is also in love with Renu), but Vijay has not been able to find a suitable job in Delhi despite having a BA degree. Laxmi has been diagnosed with cancer. Vijay takes Laxmi to Bombay for her treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital. Vijay cannot find any job in Bombay and has no other option but to be a driver employed with Chinnoy Seth. Lala Kedarnath is released from prison after completing his sentence and decides to find his kids. Kedarnath finds from his old friend Hardayal (Hari Shivdasani) that Laxmi is alive and stays in Delhi. When Kedarnath reaches the address, he finds that Laxmi had shifted to Bombay. Renu and her parents also come to Bombay for a vacation. Renu finds Vijay as a driver working for her father's friend Chinnoy Seth, when he comes to visit them. Renu still loves Vijay, but now Vijay is very reserved and knows that the gap between their social status is too huge. Raja continues to pursue Meena, but a vivacious Ravi arrives in her life and sweeps her away. Raja finds that Meena is spending all her time with Ravi. Gradually, Meena and Ravi fall in love with each other. To Raja's dismay he realizes that she however intends to marry Ravi, who is a family friend. On the night before their engagement, Raja decides to kill Ravi only to realize that he is his long-lost brother. However, he cannot tell Ravi about his parentage and in the meantime Meena's parents (father (Manmohan Krishna) and mother (Leela Chitnis)) decide to break off the engagement on discovering that Ravi is of unknown parentage and religion. Heartbroken, Ravi leaves his home after an argument with his foster parent's (father (Surendra Nath) and mother (Sumati Gupte)) daughter Renu (Sharmila Tagore), whom he considers a sister, over the fact that he had objected to her affair with Vijay who is working as a driver for Chinnoy Seth. Raja learns about Ravi's problem and decides to reveal the truth about their relationship at a party organized by Chinnoy Seth. However, Chinnoy Seth's employee Balbir Singh (Madan Puri) drunkenly misbehaves with Meena at the party and Raja manhandles him. Later that night, the drunk Balbir gets into a fight with Chinnoy Seth and in self-defense, Chinnoy Seth ends up stabbing Balbir fatally with his dagger. To cover up his crime, he decides to frame Raja and drags the body to Raja's house, hiding it in his closet. Vijay happens to witness this but is shut up with the promise of money for his mother's treatment. Raja is arrested and asks Ravi to defend him as an advocate, while Vijay initially testifies falsely and then recants his statement after being confronted. Lala Kedarnath also appears in court as the witness who found Raja being caught by the police. Raja is ultimately proved innocent and Chinnoy Seth is convicted after he blurts out the truth in court (as Ravi uses his smarts to prove that Raja could never have attacked Balbir from the angle that Chinnoy proposed and that it was Chinnoy who was in the right position to attack Balbir), thanks to Ravi. Afterward, Laxmi arrives in the court to make sure Vijay did the right thing. Lala Kedarnath sees her in the courtroom and has an emotional reunion with her and Vijay. Raja then overhears Lala Kedarnath narrating his orphanage incident to Laxmi and introduces himself and Ravi as Lala Kedarnath and Laxmi's remaining two sons. The entire family finally reunites. In the end, Lala Kedarnath and the rest of the family build a new home where they, Meena's family, and Renu's family live together.